Densetsu no Ryu Tsuwamono
by DragonWarrior125
Summary: This is a story about a young man, fighting through the adversity his fate set before him. He meets many enemies and allies from different worlds throughout his journey. In the end he might be the only one they can count on. Action/Adventure/Fantasy Crossover
1. Of foxes and dragons

Important note: Locations belonging to the world of reality are **not **as described in this story. Also, only the creations of my own imagination belong to me, everything else is the property of its respective owners.

Densetsu no Ryu Tsuwamono

Prologue

There are many stories in the worlds that have been lost, some simply forgotten and others have been destroyed. This story however, has yet to begin, and the characters don't know how it might end. In the beginning, there was a general peace within the Worlds. Their inhabitants were unaware of those who kept control of the Chaos.

So they never knew that, one day, a great power was unleashed upon the unsuspecting Worlds. On that day the Guardians of those worlds knew, a Dragon Warrior had fallen.

His name was Muramasa Senzoryu, and he had finally given into the Chaos. It changed him, into a being of evil, and multiplied his power beyond that of the Guardians. When his fellow Warriors found him, they knew what had to be done.

However their power alone wasn't enough to stop him.

When the Warriors tried to stop Muramasa many of them were absorbed by Muramasa and added to his power. Their battle raged on for seven days until only 3 of the original 17 were left: Drake the first, Ryu the second, and Masamune the fourth. Drake continued to fight, while Ryu and Masamune were left with orders to seal the First and Second Worlds. This seal prevented Muramasa from tainting these Worlds.

Ryu left and told Masamune to protect the First and Second Worlds and setup a refugee camp for any survivors of the battle and Masamune's rampaging to live in. Ryu rejoined Drake in the fighting and they were successful in driving off Muramasa, however the cost to their spirits was too much and they died sealing half of Muramasa's power. Masamune continued his work in the Second World, to found an organization to help the victims of the destruction Muramasa and the Taint caused, and to fix and reclaim lost Worlds.

172 years later this organization gained a secure footing in the Second World and succeeded in Cleansing four Worlds so far. Masamune is thought of as legend; however he is still alive and well. In that time Muramasa changed his last name to Kontonryu because he thought it fit himself better. In all this time the First World has been untouched by any outside power, good or evil, now it waits until the power of the Dragon Warriors returns. On the 173rd year a great shift in power took place, and Muramasa regained his lost power, and where this story begins…

Chapter 1: Of dragons and foxes

A young man was sitting in the middle of a meadow under the shade of a big tree. He was busy reading a journal of a Japanese archeologist when, an entry caught his attention: "We have been excavating the ruins for well over a week, and nothing of great importance has been discovered. Most of the ancient glyphs speak of an age old battle; it would seem as if it was between Gods." this entry was dated August 6, 1862.

The young man spoke to himself. "That would be the 5th time ruins described a battle between Gods, and that's across 3 continents and the ruins all have different estimated ages." He made a note of this in his journal. As he finished he noticed that it was 4:43. "Crap!" he said with slight disdain, "I only have 17 minutes to get back."

He quickly started to pack up his stuff, when his cell phone started ringing. He picked it up and answered. "Hello?" He said into the phone. "I suggest you hurry up." Said a male voice on the other end. "You're not helping." He retorted. "Well I thought you might want to know that the boss-man comith" Replied the voice.

The young man sighed, "Thanks for the info, but I better get going." "Good luck, Drake." The voice said. "Thanks Sora, I'm going to need it." Drake replied. He shut the phone with a click and slid it into his backpack. Then he continued to put the backpack on and started his 6 mile trek to his bike.

Drake checked his watch and to his displeasure it read 4:47. "I'm going to have to take the highway to get there in time." He said to himself as he quickened his pace. When he got to his bike, which happened to be a lime green Kawasaki ZX-6R Ninja, he checked his watch again and it read 4:53. "Wow," he said to himself as he mounted and started his motorcycle, "60 MPH, that's a new record."

Drake had to make the 15 miles to his school in less than 7 minutes, which would be impossible unless he went almost 130 MPH on the whole way there, so he decided to shoot for 5:04, he would be very late but at least he wouldn't go to jail. He made it to the highway in less than a minute.

With 14 miles to go, Drake turned into the fast lane and gunned it. He serpentined through the light traffic and empty road until he reached his exit without any problems. He checked his watch; 5:05 read the blue display. "Well at least I didn't get pulled over." He thought to himself as he pulled over to the left.

He looked over and noticed a little boy looking at him. He smiled and waved with his left hand, and the boy smiled back. The kid was still watching him from his SUV when Drake continued on his path to his school. When he finally made it to his school, Drake parked his bike across the street, and checked his watch.

"5:09," He sighed "I'm going to be scrubbing the floors for weeks." As he crossed the street he looks up at his school. It was a small wooden building surrounded by grass and small trees. There was a garden in the back that he loved to meditate in. The school was located in the countryside of southern Japan, and resided in a small village.

The villagers were nice, and provided a steady income for anyone willing to do some chores. Drake always dreaded his chores at his old home in America; however he was the schools most hard-working student, he even built his own house in the village with the residents help. He even worked for free in his spare time, growing in popularity within the village.

His family was surprised at his change when he visited them a week before. He seemed to have grown greatly in his short year there. He was at least twice as strong and even pushed their car when it broke down, reaching a top speed of 25MPH. When they questioned him about his sudden gain in strength he said it was just hard work, eating right, and believing in himself. They called Bullshit but he didn't change his story.

As he walked up the steps to the school, he paused and read the sign on the door: "Red Dragon Dojo". Drake always liked the name and hoped to become one of the Red Dragons. They were the most honored members, and the least seen. Drake has only seen one of the Red Dragons, other than his Sensei, and he was rather reluctant to talk to Drake. To become a Red Dragon is one simple test: beat their Sensei in a fight.

The memory of the challenge in his first mount there was still fresh in his head. The students name was Jack, and he was also from America. He quickly got agitated with the teaching style of the dojo. He said that they were "Holding me back" and "A waste of my time". He also wanted to beat their Sensei as quickly as possible. When Jack challenged their Sensei to a fight, he accepted with a warning: "I'm not going to go easy on you".

When the fight started, Jack wasn't even able to land a single hit before he was unconscious, their Sensei knocked him out with a single hit without taking more than a single step. Afterwards Jack left and apparently became a very successful lawyer, who ironically helped defend the dojo from lawsuits from students who were injured.

When the memory faded Drake opened the door to find every one of his fellow students (About 25 give or take) sitting in rows to his left, and to his right sat 7 strangers wearing dark clothing and to Drake's amusement, black trench coats. Between the two was a path to the raised platform that was at the back end of the dojo and took up two thirds of the space of the dojo which was 2500square feet. The dojo itself was a two story tall wooden building with traditional Japanese style walls and paper doors on both sides of the first floor, two on both the left and right, one at the end of the platform on either side and the center of the far wall. The stairs to the second floor are outside and the second floor is the living quarters for their Sensei and where the students can study and relax.

"What's going on?" Drake asked nervously. He looked over to his right at the 7 strangers, and wondered who they were. "If you were on time you would know." Replied a man sitting in the middle of the platform, Drake recognized the man as Niji, one of the lower level Sensei's who helped teach the students.

"I'm sorry," Drake answered "I was studying another journal and lost track of the time." "Oh?" Niji asked with little interest. "Did this journal contain anything remarkable?" "I'm not finished, but it did talk about glyphs describing a battle between Gods." "And why should I care?" Niji replied with an icy tone. "Because others I've read had depicted the same thing, and each from a different continent." Drake said getting exited.

Throughout this conversation the 7 strangers continued to discuss something with hushed murmurs. Every once and a while they would stop and look at Drake, then continue to talk to each other. Two of them however, were in a quite argument, what it was about, Drake didn't know. "We don't have the time for this," Niji said while standing up and walking towards Drake. "Introduce yourself to our guests and sit down." Niji said face to face with Drake.

"Oh right!" Drake replied nervously, as he turned away from the irritated Niji and to the strangers, he then bowed and said: "Hello and welcome to the Red Dragon!" Niji proceeded to hit him on the head saying "They know that already, just tell them your name." "Right, right…" He walked up to the nearest person, who stood up and offered his hand. Drake took it and shook it saying, "I'm pleased to meet you, my name is Ryu Tamashii." Drake smiled with his eyes closed expecting a similar response. When he opened his eyes why he hadn't responded, the man was standing there with a shocked look on his face and was staring at Drake.

Drake noticed a similar surprised look on the rest of the strangers faces. His fellow classmates and Niji seem to feel the same as Drake, wonder what had surprised them so. The man seemed to recover and regained his composure and said, "Sorry! That was very rude of me," he retracted his hand and bowed, "My name is Allen, and this is Dart," gesturing to a blonde with short strait hair, and pale blue eyes, to his left.

"Hello!" he replied with a slight accent, and shook Drakes hand. "And this is Cloud," Allen continued gesturing to another blonde with spiky hair, and slightly glowing blue eyes. "Hello." He replied and just nodded in his direction, Drake nodded back. "This is Squall," Allen said gesturing to a man leaning against the wall, when he looked up Drake saw the scar on his face after his brown hair moved out of his face. "Hello." Was all he said, and nodded in his direction.

Drake nodded back thinking 'My neck is going to be sore in the morning.' "This is Zoro," gesturing to a man with green hair sitting next to Squall. Drake could tell he was asleep, and there was a few seconds of awkward science before a silver haired man tapped him with his foot, and he woke up. He was confused for a little bit then he tried to gain his composure and said "Uh, hello."

Drake tried to stifle a grin as he said "Hello." Afterwards Zoro went back to sleep. "This is Dante." A rather displeased Allen gesturing to the silver haired man who kicked Zoro. "Yo!" Dante said, Drake smiled and nodded in his direction. "And this is…" Allen started. "Jade." Finished a young lady, who held out her hand. Allen seemed a little upset as Drake reached out to shake her hand.

When they shook hands Drake felt a strange feeling about Jade. Drake looked straight into her dark green eyes and he thought that there was more to her than it seemed. His thoughts were interrupted by loud footsteps from outside the dojo. "It's about time!" Niji exclaimed as he ushered Drake to the empty spot up by the platform. As he sat down Drake looked across the room and noticed Jade watching him, he waved at her and she waved back. Then the front door opened with a bang.


	2. A shift in the winds

Chapter 2: A shift in the winds

In walked a man in a dark suit. Drake recognized him as Tonoo, his Sensei's lawyer and he was the one who taught Jack some of his techniques. "Tonoo?" Niji asked, walking over to him. "What are you doing here?" "It would seem Masamune has disappeared…again." Tonoo replied. "However, this time he left a note, with directions to give the dojo to a new owner." "New owner?" Niji asked with a shocked look. "It would seem that he thinks it's time for someone else to take over." Tonoo answered.

"Who did he leave it to?" Niji asked excitedly, hoping for the promotion he always wanted. "Lets see…" He said looking through some papers, he found the one he was looking for and said "It says that he leaves it to his best student, is there a Drake Ryu Tamashii present?" Tonoo finished with a confused look. "…What?" Niji asked, his mouth gaping.

"Yep, right here: Masamune Senzoryu, that's his signature, right?" Tonoo said matter of factly. "Yes, yes it is…" Niji said with an angry look at Drake, who seemed to be very confused. "Congratulations Drake," Tonoo said turning towards Drake. "You're the new owner of the Red Dragon Dojo." "But how will I be able to become a Red Dragon if he's gone?" Drake asked standing up. "You could always challenge one of the Red Dragons." Sora suggested standing up.

"Where would I find one? And what if they refuse the challenge?" Drake asked getting upset. "I think we could help you there," Zoro said standing up "Or did you just forget about us?" "You know where to find a Red Dragon?" Drake asked hopefully. "Who do you think we are?" Zoro answered with a grin. "ALL of you Red Dragons?" Drake asked surprised. "For his best student you sure are dull." Zoro answered.

"I don't think you have much room to talk Zoro." Dante butted in. "Shut up!" Zoro yelled at Dante. "So who will you ask?" Allen asked. "Hmmm…" Drake thought about it looking them over. "Jade." He answered pointing at her. At this Dart, Zoro, Allen and Dante laughed. "What!" Drake annoyed. "That was the worst choice you could make," Dart answered "She can kick all of our asses."

Throughout this, Jade just sat there watching Drake, as if she was judging his strength. After a while she said "Ok." This quickly silenced the room; even Squall and Cloud were surprised. "Then let's get this party started!" Drake exclaimed. The two of them started walking towards the platform; everyone else took a seat of the floor. Squall and Cloud watched from their spots on the wall.

Zoro and Dante seemed to be in a heated argument involving Zoro's head and a lobster. Allen talked with Tonoo, while Dart and Niji sat there quietly, thinking about what might happen next. Once they reached the platform Drake and Jade took off their shoes. Drake's were a pair of black combat steel toed boots; Jade's were a pair of light leather boots. Drake couldn't tell what kind of leather it was, or why she had them. "Those must get very heavy." Jade said looking at Drake's boots. "Not really, I've trained enough that it goes unnoticed." Drake answered.

"Aren't you going to take off your coat?" Jade asked "I'd prefer to keep it on, this however I don't." Drake answered taking off his backpack. "Fine by me." Jade said. "Here we go." Drake said, cracking his knuckles. They both walked to opposite sides of the platform and moved to a fighting stance. Drake put his hands up in front of his face, and Jade seemed to have only moved her right foot back a step.

Drake began with a straightforward punch with his right hand. Jade put all of her weight on her left foot to dodge Drakes attack. She then pushed off with her left foot, and twisted her body to try to kick him in the head with her right foot.

Drake dodged the attack and spun around to gain momentum to do an upper-cut aimed at her ribs. She dodged this by pushing off of his forearm with her left foot. She then pushed off of the floor with her arms and landed facing Drake. At this the crowd of Drakes classmates cheered saying "He always gets us with that!"

Jade then started running clockwise around Drake, who sat there watching her every step. She then closed the gap with a quick dash, and a palm thrust aimed at Drake's stomach. Drake dodged it by doing a front flip and rotating 180 degrees (commonly called a Berani flip) and finished it by aiming a leg sweep at Jade's legs.

Still unbalanced, Jade was unable to dodge it, and Drake took the chance to aim a punch her in the ribs. However, Jade hit the ground and rolled, so the punch only brushed her side. Drake looked up, not expecting the full-body punch straight to his stomach. He managed to catch her fist and twisted it as her brought her over his head and threw her into the air.

On her descent he nailed her with his own full-body punch, sending her flying ten feet away. Everyone was too busy with the fight to notice the slight shimmer in the air. When she got up a few seconds later, Drake asked, "Is this seriously the best you can go?" "You want the best?" Jade asked breathing heavily, "This may not be my best, but you will still regret this later." She looked up at him with her deep green eyes and a wry smile.

Then she suddenly disappeared from Drakes view and reappeared directly in front of him mid punch. Surprised, Drake was unable to dodge the punch that was aimed at his Solar Plexus. (A bundle of nerves directly below the rib cage) It flung Drake through the air and into the far wall, breaking many of the boards.

He fell out of the hole and onto the floor, after a few seconds of breathing heavily; he stood up and winced, touching his chest. "Ouch" Drake said as he looked up at Jade. "You weren't kidding. Well I might as well let loose as well" He then walked over to the edge of the platform where his stuff was. Drake took off his coat and revealing what was underneath. This greatly surprised everyone in the room.

Underneath was what looked like a vest of metal with thinner material on the sides for ease of movement. Where Jade hit him, there was a large indent in the vest; he took it of gingerly trying not to bend it any more than it was. He also took off the wrist and ankle weights, which were more, longer than bulky.

"I see why he chose you as has successor." Jade said as Drake set the final weight down. "And I can see why you can beat him," Drake said "Even with the vest that hurt." "I'm surprised you can talk, most people lose consciousness after a hit like that." Drake walked back to face Jade. "Ready to finish this?" Drake asked

"Yep." Jade answered "Here we go." Drake said with a grin, as he prepared himself, she did the same. There was a moment of silence as they stared at each other. Then Jade disappeared, when she reappeared, she was preparing an upper cut. Jade glanced at Drake's face and she noticed his eyes were closed.

When Jade hesitated Drake grinned and disappeared like she had, when he reappeared Drake was behind Jade. Then Drake tried to do another leg sweep, Jade did a back flip high into the air. Drake jumped into the air above her, much to her surprised, and landed an extremely fast, hard kick and hooked and launched her through the roof.

When Drake landed, Jade fell back though the same hole and landed with a crunch on the platform. She stood up, Groaning, and with great difficulty said: "I didn't know you could do the Flash Step." "I bet you didn't know I could do this either." Drake said as he rushed forward with a Flash Step and hit her in the chest six times consecutively with alternating hands.

Then Drake did an upper cut directly to her jaw, and sent her into the air. Drake then jumped into the air and landed on Jade's chest as she started to fall backwards. Drake then followed with a two-legged kick that sent him to the ceiling, and Jade too the floor. She hit the floor and bounced, yelling out in pain.

On Jade's rebound Drake pushed off the ceiling with both feet and punched her in the stomach, back to the ground which stopped him inches from the ground. This time Jade bounced higher. Drake swung his upper body away from Jade and kicked her with his right foot sending her flying and leaving his body parallel to the floor.

Jade hit the wall with enough force to creak some of the overhead support beams. Jade slid off the wall and landed on her face. Groaning, and with heavy breath, Jade got back up. She had difficulty in raising her head to look at Drake. "I think we better stop before we knock down the ceiling" Jade said to Drake. "Does that mean I win?" Drake asked hopefully, even though he was extremely tired. All she could do to respond was nod.

At this he pulled his fist downward and shouted "Yes!" Jade tried to walk over to him to do the formalities, but stumbled and fell. Drake quickly ran over to help her. He held out his hand to her and she took it saying: "Thanks, I can't seem to stand up straight" "Or stand up at all" He said as he walked over to the benches on the sides of the platform.

Drake set Jade down on a bench while Sora rushed over to give them some water. Sora handed one to Drake and another to Jade. "Thanks" Jade said before she drained the 2.5 liter bottle in one go, Drake did the same shortly after. Sora had a look of amazement as he took the empty bottles from them.

"Are you sure you don't need medical treatment?" Niji asked when Jade waved him and his painkillers away. "I'll be fine. Don't worry; my first day of training was worse than this." Jade answered "I know how you feel" Drake said with a shudder.

Unbeknownst to everyone in the room, while they were busy watching the fight, short as it was, there was a steady increase of energy in the air. To busy with the fight to notice, the Red Dragons felt an extremely strong energy in the room. "So this is the famous Red Dragon Dojo." Said a particularly sinister voice coming from the doorway.

"Who are you?" Drake asked as he stood up to face a man dressed completely in black. He noticed that all of the Red Dragons were tense and Jade seemed like she was scared of this newcomer. "The man who killed Masamune and is going to kill you all," He answered menacingly "but you can call me Doku."

He bowed and looked at everyone in the room. "You're all so tense, I can fix that" He said licking his lips.

"You're lying," Cloud said "No one can kill him." "Oh, do you seriously believe that?" Doku said with a sneer, "Then how could I have this?" Doku pulled out a rather long hilted katana from his waist. He threw it at Cloud's feet. Drake looked at it and identified it as his Sensei's sword. He knew that purple hilt anywhere; he walked over to pick it up.

All the while Drake kept his eyes on the sword he could hear his heartbeat drumming a rhythm he didn't know. He didn't notice Dante running past him saying to Doku: "Enough talk! I'm taking you down!" "I don't think so!" Doku said taking out a serrated hunting knife. When Dante tried to run him through with a frontal thrust, Doku sidestepped him and made a small cut in his side.

"That won't stop me!" Dante yelled as he swung around to do a diagonal slash from the right. However, before he could reach Doku Dante stopped and clutched at his wound. "Poison." Dante gasped as he sank to the floor. "There's more." Doku said with a tone of superiority, he then pulled out some needles.

"These are coated with a paralyzing toxin that renders the victims helpless, like your friend over there." Doku said with a tone of superiority, gesturing to Dante with his knife. "It isn't fatal, so I will have some fun with you before I kill you." "Drake," Allen said taking off his glove on his left hand and putting it in his pocket.

"Take Jade as far away from here as you as you can. She has no strength left to fight; we'll meet up with you soon." "I don't think so." Doku said pointing his knife to the floor. Suddenly, all of the exits were sealed by a glowing barrier. "What, is that your catch phrase? Or are you to _**stupid**_ to think of a better comeback?" Zoro asked with a snort, drawing a white handled katana.

"It doesn't matter, soon enough _**you**_ won't be able to thinking much." Throughout this the students were starting to get hysterical. Niji and Tonoo were not far behind. "Oh that's right." Doku said turning to them. "You all can go; I have no interest in you." After he said this one of the side doors was unblocked on their side.

A large barrier quickly blocked any escape for Drake and Jade. The students quickly followed his advice and left with Niji and Tonoo in tow. However, Sora was the last one out and he yelled "**Kick his ass**!" Doku gave him a look that could freeze hell, Sora flinched but didn't back down and stared back at him.

Sora held his gaze for a few seconds before leaving as well. "Good." Doku said once they left, and moved the barrier back to its previous position. "So who's next?" Doku asked walking up to the platform. Everyone kept their eyes on him as he walked by. Dart quickly carried Jade to the rest of the group.

Drake was still staring at Masamune's sword. After a while he breathed deeply and exhaled. He seemed to have a sad look on his face as he walked through the Red Dragons, who were discussing who should go until Drake interrupted their conversation.

Drake continued to walk until he reached his stuff and he set down his Sensei's sword, and continued to put his boots and trench coat on. Everyone was interested in what he was doing and watched him including Doku. Drake unbuttoned his left sleeve and put it in his back pack. He then pulled out a pair of gloves that clinked as he put them on.

Drake picked up his Sensei's sword and walked onto the half destroyed platform. Drake turned to Doku, who was still waiting for an answer, and said "That would be me."


	3. A story begins

Chapter 3: A story begins

"Don't be stupid." Dart said to Drake. "That poison of his can take you out with one hit." "He won't be able to hit me." Drake said in response. He said it with such confidence that no one else tried to stop him. They knew that if Drake couldn't beat Doku that they won't. "So Masamune's little pet is going to fight me?" Doku asked. "No." Drake replied "I'm not going to 'fight' you; I'm going to _**destroy**_ you." At this the smirk on Doku's face seemed to die, and be replaced by a harsh glare.

"You're still tired from that little fight earlier." Doku said "I didn't even use my full powers in that fight, and besides I won't be alone." Drake said holding Masamune's sword up. "What? You think that dull blade is going to stop me?" Doku asked grinning "Not quite, but what I can do with it can." Drake replied.

Drake moved the sword in front in front of him and pointed it to Doku, putting his right hand at the base of the hilt and the left a few inches from the bottom. "I'm ready whenever you are." Drake said with a sly smile. Doku grunted and raised his knife. "I can't really fight you with this small blade can I?" He said. Doku then put the knife away and put his right arm in front of himself.

It seemed to Drake that he was reaching for something. Dark tendrils started to converge in his palm and formed a katana that was remarkably like that of Masamune's, except pure black and it seemed to absorb and smother the light around it. "This, my friend, is the end for you." Doku said pointing the sword at Drake. "Like I hadn't heard that before." Drake said nonchalantly.

This apparently, infuriated Doku. "You sound just like that bastard Masamune." He growled "Heh," Drake said with a half smile. "I'm guessing he didn't take you seriously when he fought you?" Doku responded with a quick dash to close the gap between them and a horizontal slash. "I see you're left handed." Drake said as he side stepped Doku's attack.

"Enough talk! Are you going to fight me or not?" Doku asked. "Might as well, this is a waste of time." Drake replied turning to face Doku. Doku started with an upwards slash, Drake reflected it and used his momentum to spin and try to hit Doku's right side. Doku took his sword and blocked it with the point facing the ground.

Drake twisted his sword and pushed Doku's sword out of the way for a clear stab at his side. Doku avoided this by maneuvering Drake into the gap between himself and his sword; Doku dropped his sword and reached around Drake to catch his sword. Doku then tried to stab drake in the back, but Drake stopped the sword with the flat of his own, one-handed and reaching around himself.

Doku jumped back, "You're not that bad, but don't expect to last long." he remarked. Drake moved his sword from behind himself and put it on his shoulder. He smiled and moved his right foot forward, still with his back to Doku. Doku used Flash Step to get close to Drake and did a horizontal slash, aimed to cut him in half at the waist.

Drake however, went one legged on his right foot, and pulled his left close to himself, and pushed off of the ground as he went horizontal. He glided over Doku's sword and twisted himself to hit Doku in the face with his sword. Drake could feel the sword crack Doku's skull and cut through his head. Drake landed on his feet and went to shake the blood off the sword, but he noticed there was none.

Drake quickly turned around to see Doku still upright and with half his face gone. Doku turned to face an extremely shocked Drake with a half smile on his face. "You're **really** good." Doku said "Too bad you can't kill me that way." Drake could hear a voice in his head whispering "Why dodge any attacks then?" "What?" Drake asked in his head.

Doku started laughing. "I love that look on your face. The Confused Moron I call it." "So you can hear me?" Drake could hear the voice say the little louder "Yeah." Drake replied. Doku's laughter slowly started to fade from Drake's hearing, as the voice's got louder, and Drake closed his eyes. "Good, I've wanted to talk to you for a while." Drake could hear the voice clearly. "Open your eyes." Said the voice.

Drake opened his eyes to an alien landscape. He was sitting on a hill under a tree in a meadow. The edges of the meadow faded into an empty white. Drake could see what looked like little fire balls floating far away in the white, they were many different colors. Drake looked down at his hands and rubbed the ground with them. He could feel the earth underneath him, and the sun shining through the leaves of the tree.

"Where am I?" Drake asked looking around. "Now that's a question I can't really explain." A voice answered from drake's left. Drake looked to see a man facing the meadow. He was dressed very akin to Drake with the exception to his hair and his style of trench coat. His hair was brown like Drake's but longer and pushed back.

The man's coat was black but had no outer pockets and had a belt. The sleeves were the same width throughout their length. His left sleeve came down to his wrist, while his right ended at his elbow. Both sleeves and the bottom of his coat had ragged edges. The coat had holes and cuts throughout, but not enough for it to fall apart.

He had a worn blue robe on underneath, as well as dull blue pants. His boots were a rustic red with lots of wear, Drake could tell that they used to be a fine shade of red, heavy leather, boots. Drake could feel that this man was of great age and was very battle worn. When he turned to Drake, Drake was shocked to see that his eyes were red and his pupils were slits.

"It's the eyes isn't it?" He asked gesturing to his eyes. "To tell you the truth, I'm the last of my kind." He turned back to the meadow "A Dream God, commonly called Yumekami, a mix of a Dragon and a human. How that's possible, I don't know, but there are few left who can call themselves that.

"Those lights out there are the Soul Flares of other Yumekami." The man turned to Drake "You are a rare type of Yumekami; you can sense the souls of other Yumekami and can copy their abilities. Other than that, I don't know much about your powers, or your limits.

"The only other person that shares the same powers you have is the Reimeikami; the Twilight God. He and I only had a short chat before I died, but he told me that there was going to be a time when his own power is not going to be able to defend the Dynamo Nebula from the Chaos.

"And I will be the guide for the person that will finally restore the balance between the Lifestream and the Chaos. It's rather ironic that you look the way you do." He said sitting down on the grass. "You look just like my friend, and brother, Drake Senzoryu." "Senzoryu!" Drake exclaimed snapping out of the daze he was in.

"Yeah." The man said looking at the sky through the tree. "Isn't that Masamune's last name?" Drake asked in surprise. The man fell over and scrambled back up to face Drake. "Masamune's still alive?" He asked with excitement and shock in his eyes. Drake however wasn't amused in the least. "You don't know that, but you can watch me fight a dark ghost… thing?" he asked

"That's only because your fighting spirit is moving at an incredible pace." The man explained a little put out. "Before I answer your question tell me your name." Drake said crossing his arms. "Ah sorry I got caught up in my explanations. My name is Ryu Kasaiyama, Dragon Warrior of the Second World, under the command of Kengo Yamamoto." He said bowing.

"Bit much?" Drake asked raising an eyebrow. "Humph!" Ryu grunted. "I still don't know your name." Drake sighed and said "Drake Kasaiyama, Red Dragon of the Red Dragon Dojo, under the command of myself." Drake said bowing lower than Ryu did. Ryu started laughing. "You're really like him. Always making me laugh when I needed it the most." Ryu said with a grin, but that grin soon disappeared. "The world will really be different without him."

"I think you mean 'Worlds, right?" Drake said still crossing his arms. "I can see why I was chosen to be your guide; you don't seem to freak out over this kind of stuff." Ryu said with a small smile. "Must make it easier, anyway up to a little while ago I thought that Masamune was alive." Drake said finally answering Ryu. "I see…" Ryu said becoming somber. "I have his sword though, if that helps." Drake said hoping to cheer Ryu up.

"Hmm?" Ryu said looking up with curious eyes. "Could you hold out your hand and think about the sword?" "Like this?" Drake said with a smile, and Masamune's sword materializing in his hand, almost hitting Ryu in the chin. "Yes, but next time, try to I don't know, _not cut my head off?_" Ryu asked with a frown.

"But that's less fun." Drake said sticking out his bottom lip. "Back on a serious note, you have already copied Masamune's powers, and thankfully, he's still alive." Ryu said with a look of relief. "How can you tell?" Drake asked looking at the sword. "Can't you feel it?" Ryu asked. Drake sat there and stared at the sword, after a while he could feel something emanating from the sword. It was some sort on energy, which as Drake concentrated on it, started to send jolts through his body.

"Yes." Drake said to Ryu. "Good. I see that you learn really quickly, so I'm going to show you how to sync your soul with the one in this sword." Drake sat there thinking and looking over the sword. "So Masamune's soul is inside this sword?" Drake asked. "Yes, due to his lack of a Zanpakuto, Masamune decided to store part of his soul in this sword when he forged it." Ryu explained

"Does that make sense?" "More or less." Drake said. "But I think that I can do this by myself." Drake started to concentrate on the energy much more than before and didn't hear Ryu's response. Drake started to feel something like a heartbeat from the sword; he tried to match the rhythm with what he thought of as his soul energy. Suddenly, the sword started to glow a dark purple and Ryu backed up with fear in his eyes.

"That's not a good color Drake, stop before it's too late." Drake was unable to hear Ryu as a voice suddenly entered his head. "You're a strong one." He could hear the voice say. "I can give you even more power than you already have." The voice became smooth as it said this.

"You just have to give in and let your instincts lose." Drake could a strong force pull on something within himself. Outside his head the landscape around Drake started to turn black, and the tree began to wither. Drake began grinning a grin of a crazy man. "Well I have an answer to offer, whoever you are," Drake moved his right hand to face the sky and planted the sword in the ground.

"Go fuck yourself." Drake said concentrating his energy in his hand and drawing the energy the voice was coming from into it as well. His hand started to turn red and scaly; his fingers became claws like that of a dragon. "You're not going to do that to me." Drake started concentrating his energy at a critical limit. "Now, I'm going to destroy you, goodbye."

Drake could feel the voice become extremely irritated. "Then I have no choice in killing you." He heard the voice say. The sun turned into a large black monster that had no definite shape and let no light pass it. Drake heard the monster roar and charge up something in what looked like a mouth.

Before he could think of something clever to say, Drake released the energy he built up all at once. It flew up at the monster at great speed; it consisted of a red black and purple beam all spiraling around each other. Before it hit, the monster released its own attack, but it didn't slow down the beams at all. It seemed to increase its power and the three beams converged into one single white beam.

When the beam hit the monster, the whole sky turned a bright white that blinded Ryu, who was standing in awe the whole time. Drake put his arm back down and pulled the sword out of the ground. The landscape had become as it was before, as the light faded back into the warm glow of the sun.

"How's that?" Drake asked grinning at Ryu. Ryu sighed with a satisfied smile. "You don't need any help from me to beat Doku, your strong enough to do it yourself, but I suggest aiming at his heart, it happens to be their weak point." Ryu said "Their?" Drake asked. "You'll learn soon enough, but I hope you have some fun before you kill him." Ryu answered

"I sure will." Drake said smiling, see you later" Drake started to walk away from Ryu and faded in to the landscape, the last thing Ryu say was Masamune's sword glowing a bright lively purple. "That kid sure is something else." Ryu said as he looked up at the sky.


	4. The all burning fire

Chapter Four: The all burning fire

Drake came back to the sound of Doku laughing. Drake raised Masamune's sword and pointed it at Doku. "Would you shut up and attack already?" Drake asked. Doku's laugh immediately died in his throat and his grin was replaced by dark frown. "Your funeral" Doku said before lunging forward with his sword. Drake sidestepped him and tried to stab him in the heart through the back. Doku crouched down and Masamune's sword slid into Doku's head.

"I see you've discovered my weak point." Doku said as Drake jumped back. Doku stood up and looked back at Drake, the hole in his head regenerating. "But you're still not fast enough to hit me there." "I guess I'll have to try something new." Drake said as switched Masamune's sword to his left hand and held his hand out twisting his wrist and facing his thumb downwards. Fire gathered in his palm and grew to form a buster sword with an orange hilt.

The blade was a deep black with white flakes scattered throughout. The top of the sword was red with a hole close to the tip. The top and bottom of the sword extend over the hilt slightly, extending the length of the sword blade. Drake lifted the sword up and pointed it at Doku. "Let's have a little fun." Drake said before swinging the sword and sending a wave of fire in Doku's direction. Doku dodged it with a roll, but some of his hair got singed.

Doku glared at Drake. "I see you've found your power." Doku said as his hair slowly regenerated, it took significantly longer then when his head regenerated. "Let's find out how well I can use it." Drake replied. Drake dashed at Doku, holding Masamune's sword behind his back and swung it forward, meeting Doku's blade. "Your attacks are weak with only one hand." Doku said pushing Drake back. "Then let me show how I will beat you." Drake said swinging his massive sword at Doku, stumbling.

Doku jumped out of the way laughing. "You compensating for something with that sword? It's too big to swing around fast enough to hit me." He taunted as Drake regained his composure. Drake ran at him again this time leading with his buster sword. He brought it down in a vertical slash, cracking through the floorboards, and once again Doku jumped back. Drake wasn't finished, however, and pushed off with his feet, using his sword as a vaulting pole, he swung down at Doku with Masamune's sword.

Doku half blocked it with his sword, sparks flying, it skidded down Doku's sword and cut into his left shoulder, severing the muscle. Doku shifted his weight and jumped back, pulling Masamune's sword and cutting out a chunk of muscle. "I'm surprised you can do that, I never knew Masamune could teach moves like that." Doku said, ignorant of his now useless arm. "All he did was toughen up my body, after I showed him how I fight, he said I shouldn't bother learning any specific fighting styles, this is all me." Drake replied, kicking his sword out of the floor and catching the hilt mid-air.

Drake stuck Masamune's sword into the floor and charged at Doku preparing a massive swing. Drake aimed at his chest, but Doku quickly jumped to Drake's right, preparing to stab him through the ribs. Drake summoned, condensed and released the flames of his sword in an instant and created a massive outwards burst of hot air. Doku was pushed back and shielded his eyes with his arm. Drake turned to Doku and held his sword at the ready.

Doku rushed forward getting ready to bring it down on Drake. Drake met him with an upwards slash, cloaking his sword in flames. The two swords met and created a large blast of air, shortly afterwards the two had to jump back as the ceiling collapsed. Drake quickly sliced at the ceiling and cut the entire roof in half, preventing the rest of the roof from collapsing. You could see the wall where the second floor ends before the first floor extends to the roof.

Drake looked at the ground around him. Sections of the roof landed in a perfect circle around him. Drake frowned. "Look at the mess you made." He looked up at Doku. "You're going to pay for this." Drake dashed forwards, cleaving the debris around him with just the flames he cloaked his legs in. He swung his sword with little force, faking out Doku, who attacked with all his strength, sending Drake and his sword flying backwards.

Drake pushed off of the ground before Doku struck his sword and did a half circle upwards and kicked Doku in the chin with his right foot. Doku's head snapped back and he was knocked off the ground. Drake landed on the hilt of his sword, which he used momentum to dig it into the floor. Doku landed on his back and rolled backward back onto his feet. He rubbed his jaw, which was almost shattered from Drake's attack. Drake smiled from his perch on his sword. "Are you ready to use your full power yet?" He asked.

Doku managed to put a small smile on his face. "Might as well, It'll be embarrassing to be beaten like this." Doku twisted his sword with the blade behind him. Almost immediately, it was enveloped with twisting strands of black light. The black light quickly spread over Doku and when he was completely covered, the light disappeared and Doku was revealed, his sword now serrated and dripping a black liquid. When the first drop of the liquid hit the floor, the floor hissed and dissolved.

Now I know why he's called Doku, poison is part of his soul. Drake thought as he jumped off his sword, pulled it out of the ground, and faced Doku, all thoughts of joking aside. The battle had only just begun. Drake sighed, hoping the fight would end soon. Doku lowered his sword and looked at Drake. Before the fight, his eyes were a dark green, but when Drake looked into his eyes, they were a black, burning with a dark fire.

Drake brought his eyebrows together in a determined frown. He rushed at Doku, bringing his sword up to block Doku's counter, Drake placed his right hand on the opposite end of the hilt, and started to spin the sword in a defensive circle as Doku flung some of his swords poison at Drake. The move easily blocked the poison, so Doku ran around to attack Drake from the side. Drake took his right hand off of his hilt and sent a fireball at Doku.

Doku pushed it aside with his sword and stabbed at Drake's head, Drake moved his head back to dodge it. As the blade passed before his eyes, Drake noticed the blade didn't have a coating of its poison. Drake punched Doku in the chest to get him to back off. Drake looked at Doku's feet, where a small pillar of dark smoke rose. Then it dawned on him. The poison was burned by his fire, and pulled any residue off of the sword.

Doku flung more of his poison at Drake; Drake blocked it with his sword, flinching as some of the poison landed on his cheek. This time Doku came from above, bringing his sword down, trying to stab though his chest. Drake jumped back, sending another fireball at Doku's sword. Like before, the poison of the sword was incinerated, but only half of it burned before the fireball dissolved in a black flame. A plan quickly formed in Drake's head. As long as he burned hot enough, he didn't need to worry about the poison.

His sword started to feel heavy in his hands. I need to find a way to use a lighter sword while still being able to use his fire powers. "Drake, try concentrating the sword itself into something smaller. You won't be able to fight with it for very long, but it should fit your needs." Ryu said in Drake's head. "I can't fight much longer anyway." Drake replied. Drake shut his eyes and did what Drake suggested. First he cloaked his sword if fire, pumping more and more energy into the blade.

At first, it glowed red, then it gradually changed to orange and then yellow. Then it started to burn green, when it turned blue, the swords shape started to change. It slowly started to compress, glowing more vivid colors as it progressed. Eventually, it started glowing violet, and the sword had almost reached its final stage. Drake slowly opened his eyes. Around him time seemed to be moving still as he pushed the last of his available energy into the sword, in a large roaring explosion, Drake was enveloped in a pillar of pure red flames.

He pointed the tip of his sword at Doku, and the flames concentrated around the sword and flared out of the end of the hilt at an enormous speed. Doku was standing still, the flames of Drake's fire dancing in his eyes, and it seemed to spark a change in Doku. His eyes seemed less hostile and full of hope. Drake pushed his right foot back a little. Ryu spoke to him "You only have one shot at this, make it count." Drake ran forward, his speed enhanced by the flames pushing him forward.

Doku watched as Drake plunged his sword into his chest. As Doku died, he smiled at Drake; his eyes were a dark green. "Thank you." he said before he was engulfed if black flames. Drake stood back and watched as the black flame faded to reveal a fist sized green crystal. Drake slowly walked up and grabbed it as it slowly descended. "Hmph." Drake said looking at the crystal. The tension in the room lessened and Cloud walked up to Drake. "I'll take that." He said taking the green crystal. "What is that?" Drake asked.

"It's a Soul Stone, within it contains the spirit of the person who was taken over by the Chaos." Zoro explained "Look who's trying to be smart." Dante said, breathing heavily. "If you weren't injured I would fight you for that comment." Zoro replied. "Way to show some sympathy." Dante said with a slight smile. "Hmph!" Zoro grunted as he sat by the wall angrily. "Don't worry about them, they always argue." Allan said to Drake as he walked over with Cloud.

"You ok?" Drake asked Jade as he sat down next to her. "I'm doing better than the Dojo, You guys really messed it up." Jade replied, looking at the wrecked room. Drake laughed "You've got a point there." "What was it that you did to gain those powers?" she asked. "I don't really know myself." Drake replied. "I think I can explain that." A male voice said, that caused everyone to stiffen up. Everyone slowly looked to where Drake left Masamune's sword.

Walking through the rubble was a tall man dressed in what looked like a blue kimono, but he had a pair of light blue pants. He had a black trench coat over his kimono, but never put his hands in its pockets. Masamune's sword was at his right hip. They watched him in shocked silence. "What? It's not like I haven't done this before. "He said with a grin. "Masamune?!" They shouted I unison. "Wha, how, just, graah!" Drake stuttered in confusion. "Calm down before you hurt yourself. Like I said, I can explain." Masamune said. "Now listen closely, Doku didn't kill me, I used a Transformation Jutsu to hide myself as a strip of cloth wrapped around my sword." He continued on with a drawn out explanation of what happened after Doku defeated him.

"How much longer is he going to do this?" Drake whispered to Jade. "I'm guessing another five minutes." Jade whispered back, with the same irritated look Drake had. Dart, Zoro and Dante were playing with some cards, ignoring Masamune's rambling. In another six agonizing minutes, Masamune had finished. "Can we start cleaning up now?" Drake asked. "We're not going to clean up, you're coming with us." Masamune replied. "We should leave before they call the cops." "I've already taken care of that, remember? I just finished explaining it to you." Masamune said with a confused look.

Allan and Dante grabbed Masamune's shoulders "We should get going." They said, dragging him along. "Jade, make sure you give Drake the tour when you get there!" Masamune shouted as they drug him through the back door. Jade sighed. "Zoro, you're with me." She said grabbing him as he was trying to walk through a side door. "What did you do that for?" He asked. "The door's over there." Jade said pointing at the door Squall, Cloud and Allan walked through.

Jade pushed him towards the door. "Go, I'll catch up later." She said walking to where her stuff was, buried under a foot of rubble. She flipped off a piece of the roof, pulling her boots and bag out as well as Drake's. She quickly slipped them on and put the bag over her shoulder. "Come on Drake." She said jumping over the majority of the debris. Drake quickly followed her, running straight through. They walked out the door together, into a small sand garden with a short stepping stone path to a dense forest that was at the far end.

Jade lead him across the garden and into the woods, following a small dirt path. "I always thought that we didn't own these woods." Drake said, looking around at the dense ferns and occasional bamboo plant. "We don't, the village does, and they let us use the space for any private training." Jade replied. They reached a clearing after a few minutes. In the center of the clearing was a rock, a bit taller than Drake, a circle with a single spiral within it was on the side of the rock.

Jade stopped half across the clearing. She shook her head and walked to a tree that was to the right of the path. She punched it, causing the top of the tree to shake wildly. Something fell from the top and broke a few branches on the way down. Zoro landed on one of the bottom braches, clinging to the bottom of it with his arms and legs. "What was that for?!" He yelled. "Next time don't get lost." Jade replied. "You were the one who got lost." Zoro said, still hanging from the branch.

"You just float everywhere don't you Marimo?" Drake said, laughing. "Don't make me kill you." Zorro said, dropping his head down into Drakes face, glaring at him. "Enough of this, just go through the Gate already." Jade said with a wave of her hand. Zoro dropped down and walked to the stone. He placed his hand on it, and went **through** it. Drake looked at the stone with disbelief. "C'mon" Jade said pushing Drake at the stone.


	5. Meeting new people

Chapter Five: Meeting new people

Drake stumbled forward and hit his face on the stone. He fell back holding his nose. "What the hell was that supposed to accomplish?!" Drake yelled. "What are you talking about?" Jade asked, puzzled. Drake stood up, still holding his nose. "Why did you push me into a rock?!" Drake replied. "Wait, you don't know what that is?" Jade asked, pointing at the rock. "I not sure what it is anymore, it's as hard as a rock, and yet Zoro was able walk right through it." Drake replied, flustered. Jade let out an exasperated sigh.

"Masamune, you really need to stop making me explain these things." Jade muttered to herself. She looked up at Drake, who was touching his nose gingerly and wincing. She sighed again. "I'm going to make this quick so pay attention; this stone is called a Ley Stone, it allows for the travel between the Worlds. These Worlds are what you might call different universes, all connected by something called the Spatial Gap; it's a place that exists outside normal time and space.

"There's a path within the Spatial Gap that connects all the portals to the Ley Stones of that world. I happen to be from a different World than this one, as well as Zoro and the others. Even Masamune is from another World. We are part of an organization that protects these Worlds from powers that want to do them harm. The reason we're having you come with us is simple, Masamune believes you can be an enormous asset to the organization." Jade explained.

"I got most of that, but how can I use this rock if when you pushed me at it earlier, I didn't go through?" Drake asked, tapping a knuckle on the rock. "It has a built in system that doesn't allow everyone through. " Jade walked up to the stone and put her hand on the spiral. "Now put your hand on mine." Jade said to Drake. Drake followed her command and put his hand on hers. Slowly, it grew warm, even though he was wearing gloves. After a few seconds, their hands started pushing through the stone.

"Woah, it feels like mud." Drake said, moving his hand throughout the stone. "Let's go." Jade said, pulling Drake behind her, into the stone. When Drake saw the other side of the portal, he gasped. He was standing on a textureless path; it was a metallic red under Drake's feet. The path was about five feet wide; it ended with a straight drop off. The background was a swirling cloud of colors; they were so vivid that Drake thought he might've been drugged.

As he was marveling at the sights, Zoro was wandering around behind him, looking for something. Jade walked by Drake in Zoro's direction. Drake leaned over the path and looked underneath it. The path was only an inch thick. When Jade had finished collecting Zoro, she looked over at Drake. Drake was admiring the bottom of what seemed like a void, when jade quickly walked up and pulled Drake back from the edge.

"It's best that you stay away from the edge, no one knows what would happen. Most are never seen from again, but some are twisted into a shadow of their former selves. You might meet one of them soon; his name is Black Wolf, and while he isn't that dangerous, we have to watch him closely for any extreme changes in his state of mind." Jade said, as she directed him through the maze of paths. She made a note to keep Zoro within her sights.

"Can you tell me anything else about this place?" Drake asked, looking around. "You can look it up at the Academy." Jade replied. "Academy?" Drake asked. "You never mentioned a school." Jade sighed. "You'll understand when you get there." Jade replied. "Why can't you tell me on the way?" Drake asked, with a pouty face. Jade spun around to face Drake, snagging Zoro by the collar before he took a wrong turn. "Listen Drake, I know you're not trying to be disrespectful, but if you act like this at the Academy, I'll be forced to punish you."

"As well as many people who out rank you." Zoro added. "What did I do wrong?" Drake asked, puzzled. Zoro and jade sighed, glancing at each other. "The best way to put it is…" Jade started "We're considered your superiors." Zoro finished. Drake stood and thought, watching Jade and Zoro. "That doesn't mean we can't be friends." He said after a while. This caught them off guard. "I mean, I used to mess around with Masamune all the time, and I still do."

"Regardless of the fact that I don't mind that behavior…" Jade said "Neither do I" Zoro interrupted. "Our superiors wouldn't respect us for it." Jade finished. "So you're worried about what the people you work with think of you?" Drake asked. "Yes." Jade replied. "Don't be, if people look down on you because of who your friends are, then they can go fuck themselves." Drake said with a grin. Jade sighed and held a hand to her forehead. "Things are going to get interesting." Jade said with an awkward smile.

"Tell you what," Jade continued. "we'll agree to let you horse around with us, but you can't get into anything you can't handle." "I promise!" Drake said with a salute. "You sure about this?" Zoro asked leaning towards Jade. "Like I said we'll see what will happen. Being a rookie, he'll definitely get into something eventually." Jade answered. "Ok, we've wasted enough time. Let's get going." She said out loud, pulling Zoro behind her.

_'I feel kind of bad for letting you do that. The kid won't know what hit him.' _Zoro thought to himself as Jade drug him behind her. Zoro yawned. _'I guess I can take a nap.' _ They walked for a while before the silence was interrupted by Zoro snoring. By then, it was only a few more minutes to the other portal so they suffered through it until they reached the portal. Without hesitation, Jade threw Zoro into the portal, which was a little past and below the path, and had a beach cinematic on it.

"Through that portal lies your future." Jade said turning to Drake. "You sound like a fortune teller." Drake replied. "Say what you want, but it's true nonetheless." Jade replied. "Let's get this over with." Drake said leaning over the path. "It's a looong way down." "Listen Drake, at the Academy, you'll meet people who'll be great friends. However, you'll also meet people who only care about their selves and will be enemies to a person like you." Jade said, heartfeltfully.

"I grew up in an American public school, I know how it works." Drake replied. "The difference here is some might want to _kill_ you." She said giving Drake a worried look. "Let's worry about that when it happens, and besides, this can't be any worse than Masamune's training." Drake replied. "You're ether exactly what we need, or going to be worst member since Black Wolf." Jade said before pushing Drake over the edge and into a new adventure.

When Drake opened his eyes, all he could see was the noonday sun and a light blue sky with the occasional cloud. Drake thought to himself _'It's rather warm'_ and closed his eyes. His thoughts were interrupted by a kick in the ribs. Drake opened his eyes and Jade was standing above him with crossed arms. "I see you're awake." Jade said "What happened?" Drake asked, still lying down. "You came out upside down and landed on a rock." Jade answered. "Must've looked really funny." Drake said sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Yeah, you even broke it in half." Jade replied with a half-smile. Drake looked around; all he could see was a dark forest with a few shafts of lights passing through. "Don't tell me we're going to have to walk." Drake said, dreading the thought. Out of nowhere, something hit him in the back of the head. Drake twisted back and looked at what it was. To his surprise, it was a soccer ball. He stood up and look to where it came from.

Drake's jaw dropped. A large wall made with smooth white marble, with a simple rectangular design, lay before him. There were large windows a third of the way up, which looked like it was part of a second floor. A single set of steel double doors was located at the middle of the wall. On the right side were two basketball courts. To the left was a soccer field, full of people looking in their direction. A young blond man called out. "Could you send that back over here?"

Drake grinned kicked it as hard as he could. The ball spun at high speed, curving to one of the goals, barely missing the man who called out, and two others on the field, grinding into the goal's net. "So have you found it yet? Jade asked with a mischievous grin. "I see why you didn't tell me about it, I wouldn't' have believed you if I did." Drake answered. The young man ran up, grinning. "I see you brought a new guy." He said eyeing Drake.

"Yeah, too bad I have to show him around this place, on request of Masamune." Jade replied. "Anyway, my name is Tidus, it's nice to meet you." He said holding out his hand. Tidus was about 5' 9'' with stunning blue eyes; he was wearing a pair of simple black shorts and black tee shirt. Drake took his hand giving it a single strong shake. " Drake." Drake replied. "Well, I'd better get going, have fun with your game." Jade said, pushing Drake along. "Hey Drake, I'd love to play a game with you sometime!" Tidus shouted after them. "Yeah sounds like fun!" Drake shouted back.

"Already making friends." Jade said, letting Drake walk by himself. "There might me hope for you yet." "So what are we doing?" Drake asked. "I'm taking you somewhere where we can measure your current ability's. As well as put you into the system." Jade explained, picking up the pace as they headed to a large grey-brick building. "What should I expect?" Drake asked. "Some of the tests might be…strange." Jade said, as they reached the front door of the building.

The door was made out of smooth steel, with a single handle that looked like one from a bathroom from Drake's home world. The inside of the building was a bright white, and the ceiling was a giant skylight. As Drake looked around, a man walked up, dressed in a white lab coat and carrying a clipboard. His blond hair was pushed behind his ears. "Ah Jade, It's about time you got here." He said. "And I see you still dressing as cliché as possible." Jade remarked.

"Ok, ok, I won't pry. " He turned to Drake. "Denki Inazumarin." Drake shook his hand saying: "Drake Ryutamashii" "Ah yes, I've heard about you. Didn't you knock a semi over with just a kick?" Denki asked, as he scribbled something on his clipboard. "So Masamune has been talking about me? Well, that's only half true, I more or less pushed it, and it fell over afterwards." Drake replied. "This is the first I heard of this." Jade said looking at Drake with great interest.

"Go ahead and tell her, I'll be setting up the first test." Denki said as he walked away, scribbling furiously on his clipboard. They walked over to a long couch to sit down. "Anyway, there was a six year old boy walking across a freeway, apparently he was hallucinating because of a food allergy. Traffic was rather thin that day, but a semi was hi-jacked by a group of bank robbers, who weren't going to slow down.

"There was cops cars chasing them, but they couldn't pass the semi or else they'd get pushed. The boy had stopped in the middle of the road, directly in the path of the kid. I happened to be hanging out with my friends, crossing the freeway on an overpass. When I noticed what was going on, I pulled some rope out of my backpack. Handing the end to one of my confused friends, I jumped off of the overpass." Jade was listening with great interest.

"Thankfully, they managed to get it together before I hit the ground. I quickly slid down the rope, at this point; I had to run a top speed top the kid. Otherwise I would get hit as well. I quickly closed the gap between me and the kid, but the semi was moving too fast to get both me and the kid out of the way. As the truck reached us soon after, I knocked the kid flat on the ground and kicked the cab of the semi with my right leg.

"The semi leaned over onto its passenger side wheels, driving past the kid before falling onto its side. No one but me was injured; my legs bones had been severely fractured, and almost all my muscle was torn. My insurance couldn't cover that severe of an injury, so the community pitched in to pay for the health care." Drake explained. "Wow, did you have to get a metal implant for your leg?" Jade asked. "Nope, it healed perfectly fine; it's even twice as strong as before." Drake replied, slapping his right leg.

Denki returned with a pair of light blue shorts and a white tee shirt, as wll as a pair of this shoes. "Here change into these; we can wash your clothes for you as we take the tests." Denki explained, handing the clothes to Drake. He led them out of the small waiting room they were in, past a long hall with doorways much like a full body metal detector that you would find in an airport.

"What are those?" Drake asked. "Normally, we would have you go through that to gauge any of your 'magical' abilities." Denki explained, throwing up quotes. "But, from the multiple reports from Masamune and the spectators of your fights, I've decided that we don't need to do those tests. You still have a few that are required however." They reached the end of the hallway and Denki directed Drake into a room he can change into.

While Drake changed, Denki and Jade chatted. "So what have you been doing lately?" Denki asked. "Before Masamune called me to the  
dojo, I was scouting out a rumor in Sector Seven; turned out to be just some local Aragami." Jade replied. "Yeah I heard about those things, did you happen to meet any Gods Eaters?" Denki asked. "No, but some saw me fighting some Aragami and we're very confused." Jade replied with a laugh.

Drake walked out wearing the clothes Denki gave him, carrying his own. How long am I going to have to where these?" Drake asked, tugging on the shirt. "If you'd come with me, we can get started." Denki replied. A young man was running down the hall, his shoes squeaking on the tile floor. He screeched to a halt next to Denki, his white lab coat flaring behind him. "Sorry I'm late sir, I couldn't find my coat." He said with a bow.

"Shiro, this is Drake. Drake, this is Shiro Yuurei." Denki said introducing the two. Shiro righted himself and pushed up his glasses. "It's nice to meet you." He said, holding out his hand. Drake put his stuff in his left hand and shook Shiro's. "The feeling's mutual." Drake replied. "Shiro I want you to take his stuff to go be washed and repaired." Denki ordered. Shiro quickly relived Drake of his stuff, but after Drake let go, Shiro fell to the ground.

"Are you ok?" Drake asked. "Yeah." Shiro said sitting up. "But what the hell is in there? Rocks?" Shiro asked looking at the pile of stuff on the ground. "Close, metal training weights." Drake replied. "Go get a cart if you can't carry it so we can start the tests." Denki said to Shiro, without any sympathy. As Shiro ran off to get a cart, Denki lead Drake to the entrance of a small room.

Inside was a large sphere hanging from the ceiling by a chain. Various targets were set up throughout the room. "Uhh.." Drake said scratching his head. Jade pushed him forward and a blue force field flashed up around jade and Denki, before becoming transparent. "Hit the targets with the ball." Denki ordered. Drake rolled his eyes at him, taking his shoes off and tossing them at the force field, just bouncing off. Drake started stretching. "Any particular one? Drake asked. "Any will be fine." Denki replied.

Drake walked up to the ball, poking it with his finger. It didn't swing very smoothly, gaining resistance the farther it went. It wasn't much heavier then the sword he was using before, however. He looked around the room, a pattern forming in his head. Based on the location of the targets, and the resistance of the ball, a normal push wouldn't be enough for what Drake was planning. He noticed a few windows, with a couple people watching casually, chatting with the people next to them.

Drake held out his right hand, summoning his sword. This caught the attention of only one person. He was standing in the corner, dressed in a dark black cloak with red trim. Drake couldn't see his face, but he was watching Drake intently. Drake turned sword in his hands, the back of the blade facing the ground. With a heavy swing, Drake hit the ball with all his strength. The ball flew in the direction of the nearest target. But as it got closer, it slowed down, only tapping on the target.

A number appeared in the middle of it. "Nine." A voice crackled over some speakers. The onlookers started laughing. Drake was immediately irritated, even though he didn't know what the numbers meant. Denki sighed and wrote something down on his clipboard. Drake heard some tapping on one of the windows. Shiro was there waving to him, with a big grin. Drake wound up for another hit, this time running before hitting the ball.

It swung in a similar pattern as last time, aimed at the same target. "Eleven" the voice called out. At this point, the people watching Drake were rolling on the ground laughing. Drake stopped, closing his eyes. The ball slowly swung in his direction, passing to his left by a few feet. Faster than anyone could see, Drake cut the chain of the ball. The ball landed with too much force for one that size. Drake pushed it with his foot, realizing that it was at least three times the weight he thought it to be.

"You shouldn't have done that, now it will be even harder to hit the targets." Jade said from behind Drake. Drake didn't say anything and started to lift the ball of the ground by the little chain still attached. This silenced everyone who was laughing. With his free hand, Drake slowly cut the sphere in half. He did the same two more times, creating eight pieces. He then picked one of them up, and using his sword like a bat, launched it at the target he hit twice before.

The point lodged itself into the center of the target. "Eighty-five" the voice said over the speaker. Drake quickly launched the rest at the targets. "Eighty-one, eighty-seven, ninety, eighty, ninety-one, ninety-nine." The voice said, barely able to keep up. One piece was left, and Drake didn't know what to do with it. He looked around for any targets he didn't notice before, but there no more. "I'll have to say Drake, that was quite a show." Denki said, walking up.

Drake released his sword and crossed his arms. "Of course most people would try moving the ball closer to the targets, but you did show a bit of originality, so I guess I can accept it." Denki scribbled something on his clipboard. Drake looked up to where the guy he saw before was. He was still watching Drake, but once Drake looked at him, he turned away and walked out the door. "C'mon Drake we still have a few tests left." Denki said, waving at him to follow.

For the next seven hours, Drake went through a multitude of physical and mental tests. Some of them dragged on for hours thanks to Drakes superior physical abilities, since they were designed to wear him out. They gave him many different energy drinks, each containing something different. Luckily, he didn't have any kind of problems metabolizing them, unlike most people. His clothes hadn't been returned yet so he was a bit irritated near the end of them.


	6. A short tour

Chapter Six: A Short Tour

Drake was following Denki into a large room next to the entrance of the building. Several monitors and computers filled the room. "How much longer till I can get my coat back?" Drake said, irritated with his current appearance. The shirt and shorts were chard and soaking wet, a product of the previous test. He had abandoned his shoes long before, to a vat of some kind of jelly, that immediately, and surprisingly, burst into flames.

"Don't worry, there are no more tests, but I don't know what's taking your coat so long." Denki replied, glancing back. They stopped at a large monitor mounted on the wall. Denki flicked a switch on its side. The monitor flickered to life. Denki pulled a card out of one of his pockets. This card was registered with all the data previously gathered in Drake's tests. Denki placed in in a small indent in the side of the monitor, causing lines of data to quickly scroll on the monitor.

Drake could hear the squeak of sneakers on the floor gradually getting closer. Shiro burst into the room, stopping in front of Drake. "There's a problem with your coat." Shiro said between quick breaths. "What kind of problem?" Drake asked, frowning. "We're having trouble repairing it." Shiro replied. "It wasn't damaged." Drake said, getting more irritated. "As it turns out, the material in some spots dissolved when we tried to wash it." Shiro said quietly.

"It's made with Kevlar, how the hell can that just randomly dissolve?" Drake asked. "Well, it kinda burst into flames." Shiro replied nervously. "How-" Drake stopped, face palming. He took a deep breath. "I'll come look at the damage myself, is that ok Jade?" Drake asked, turning to her. "Fine with me." Jade replied. Drake walked back out the door, grabbing Shiro on his way out. "What do you think they did?" Jade asked Denki after Drake left. "I don't know, maybe it was worn out or something." Denki replied. The monitor beeped and a series of lines popped up on it.

**Rank: 6**

Power Lvl: 11

Skill Lvl: 16

Spirit type: Æther Fire/Wind/Earth

Lvl: 9

Defense Lvl: 6

Intelligence: 3

Melee, Long Range

Denki and Jade's jaws slowly dropped. "That's not possible." Denki said, still gaping. "WHAT?!" Jade shouted. "How the hell can he be **that** strong!? Is there something wrong with the machine?" "No Jade, That's all correct." Denki replied, tapping a series of keys on a nearby computer. Jade gritted her teeth. "That's fucking bull shit. He's trained for what? A year? I've trained practically my whole life and he's just proved that was a waste of time!" Jade ranted.

Denki put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't forget that you have certain… limitations." Denki said, trying to cheer her up. "Even without those … limitations, I still wouldn't be able to achieve that kind of results in a year!" Jade replied. "It doesn't matter anymore, as far as I know, Masamune might have taught him more then we think." Denki said, pulling out the card. He handed it to Jade. "Alright, I guess I might as well get this over with. Maybe they'll consider giving me a vacation sometime soon." Jade said, taking the card and walking to the door.

"Hey Jade can I ask you a favor? Could you give this to Anthony? I've got to check on some stuff in here for a while." Denki asked, tearing a piece of paper out of a nearby computer and holding it out. Jade grabbed it. "Sure, he's on the way." Jade replied walking out the door. She walked down the hall and stopped at a small room. The door read 'Anthony D. Stone'. Jade opened the door and quickly handing the paper to a man sitting behind a desk and walking out before he could say anything.

Jade asked around for where she could find out where they washed clothes. She couldn't find Drake or Shiro there but Drake still had his card with the rest of the contents of his coat. She retrieved it and asked around for info on Drake and Shiro. Apparently, Drake's Aura had left a slight residue on his coat and when someone tried to put it in the washer, it ignited at the touch of their hand. Ten minutes later someone was finally able to point her in the direction of the soccer field.

As she walked to the soccer field Jade thought of many creative ways to punish Drake for wasting her time. When she got near the field, she found a large crowd surrounding the soccer field. "What's going on?" Jade asked a man in the back of the crowd. "Most of the teams are out because of injuries so Tidus and the new kid are going one-on-one." He explained, not looking back. Jade sighed and tried to get a better view, but she wasn't able to squeeze through the crowd.

Jade noticed the goal and an idea popped in her head. She walked over and jumped onto it. She sat down and looked down the field. Like the man said, Drake and Tidus were facing off in the middle of the field. Tidus had the ball and was taking it to the goal on the opposite end Jade was on. Drake quickly caught up and slid, successful stealing the ball. To keep Tidus from taking it back while he got up, Drake kicked it into the air.

Tidus switched directions and ran down the field towards Jade's goal. Jade didn't know why he was doing that. When the ball started to fall, Drake jumped into the air and started spinning, quickly building up momentum. He kicked the ball as hard as he could, sending the ball flying down the field, Bee-lining to the goal. Drake landed, sliding his leg out to stop what was left of his rotation. He glanced down field at Tidus.

Tidus jumped in the air and tried to stop the ball with a backflip and kick combo. Unfortunately, the ball was moving at such an incredibly fast velocity that it sent him in a quick series of front flips after it hit his foot. After Tidus' interference, the ball started to corkscrew. Even though Tidus slowed the ball down significantly, it still hit the goal net with enough force to knock Jade off the goal and rip the fibers.

Jade Landed and looked down field. Tidus was rubbing his head and Drake was cheering, before stopping to talk to Tidus. "You ok?" Drake asked, offering a hand. "I'm fine, just a little sore." Tidus replied, standing up with Drake's help. "That was really fun!" Drake said with a grin. "Yeah, we should do it again sometime! But maybe we should tone it down a bit." Tidus replied. "Are you two done yet?" Jade asked from behind them. Startled, Tidus and Drake turned to her.

"Oh, hey Jade." Tidus said meekly. "Hey, I have your ball here," She said holding out the ball "You can have it back." She said, throwing it into his face. The ball fell to the ground and Tidus grabbed his now bleeding nose. "Next time you want to screw around, don't include anyone or anything that will interfere with my orders. Understand?" Jade asked. "Yushh." Tidus replied. "And you," She turned to Drake. "Do that again and I'll put you though a hell worse than Masamune's training." Jade scolded.

"You're not capable of that." Drake replied, unfazed. "Oh really?" Jade asked angrily. "Yes, you have other things you have to do, and I have to live through it right?" Drake replied passive-aggressively. "It couldn't have been that bad, sure running a marathon through the mountains isn't easy, but killing you is a bit much." Jade said. Drake lifted up his shirt. He revealed a long scar that ran from his right shoulder to his left hip. Jade gasped. "Did another student do this?" She asked.

"No," Drake replied lowering his shirt. "He fought me one-on-one for seven grueling weeks. I spent half that time running and hiding from him as he chased me down. My only source of food was whatever I could grab as I ran. That scar is a reminder of what happens when you don't take care of your sword. The longer I ran, the more rusted my sword got after I ran out of oil. The blade stood no chance against his Mayonaka Kuusou." "Mayonaka Kuusou?" Jade asked, confused. "His sword." Drake replied.

"But that doesn't make sense. Masamune doesn't fight with anyone who's inexperienced." Jade said, even more confused. "This training is different from his normal training; he said he needed to cram 10 years training into just seven weeks. Why, I don't know, but he disappeared shortly afterwards." Drake explained. "That would explain your strength." Jade said.

"He only spent five of those weeks actually training me. The rest was me trying to find my way back to civilization." Drake replied. "That scar could've been the least of your problems if you got lost." Shiro remarked. Apparently he walked up as Jade was talking to Drake. "Anyway, we need to finish this later, Drake lets go." Jade said, tugging Drake behind her. Shiro helped Tidus with his nose before heading back to the Lab.

"We don't have the time to give you a complete tour, but I'll explain thing as we find out where you'll be living." Jade said as they walked into the doors of the building. As they walked down a long hall, Jade pointed out the landmarks. "There's and indoor pool and gym to your left, and the right is reserved for the hospital and storage." Jade said as they quickly walked down the hall. The hall was at least twenty feet tall, with balconies halfway up, and the occasional bridge.

The hall had little traffic, with the occasional passerby that seemed to shy away from Jade as she walked by. At the end of the Gym was a large crossroads, both sides leading to a pair of doors to the outside. A small terminal was set up in the middle, with a small crowd gathered around it. Jade stopped. "This is what we call a Junction, It's used for daily jobs and any mission's people are assigned. It's usually best to check them at least three times a day, for important news or announcements.

"It can also be used to access the Archive; A large database that has information on practically anything. It seems this one is too busy at the moment so we need to go to Junction 13, which is normally used for non-work related… stuff." Jade said, waving her hand vaguely. She walked with Jade around the crowd and up a large set of stairs that was sitting in the hallway, taking up the majority and only leaving small spaces to go around.

The second floor was a gigantic atrium that was full of people and goings-on's. "This place is huge!" Drake said, trying to take it all in. "Why do you think we don't have enough time?" Jade asked rhetorically. She grabbed his arm and drug him to a large are full of people and computers. She walked up to a free one and swiped Drake's card before handing it to him. The card was about three inches by two and a half. It was about a millimeter in thickness.

One side had Drake's face on it with a few blank lines and Drake's measurements. Drake flipped it over. On the back was a magnetic strip and a bunch of information that Drake didn't understand as well as a radial chart that was a bit easier to understand. Jade pulled Drake closer. "You see this here?" Jade asked tapping the screen. On the screen was the exact same thing as what was on the card, but the amount of data following it was enormous. "What am I supposed to look for?" Drake asked.

"That's exactly my point! Not only do they have information from their tests, Masamune's added some stuff and there are at least five pages of stuff you have to read!" Jade exclaimed. "Why is that?" Drake asked, hovering closer to the screen. After a few seconds Jade found the reason. "Holy shit." She stopped and looked up at Drake. "Who are you exactly?" She asked, with a slightly haunted look. "You're starting to scare me." Drake replied getting anxious.

Jade slammed her finger onto the screen. "Right! Fucking! Here! Single Star clearance?! There are people who have been here for about ten years and barely have clearance to look at data about people from their own World! The first day you're here, without meeting **anyone **that out ranks me, and you have the strength of someone who out ranks **Masamune,** and they just **give** you Single Star clearance?!" Jade yelled; progressively getting louder the farther she went.

The entire Atrium was dead quite. Everyone was watching Drake and Jade, no one daring to make a noise. "Uhh… Jade? You ok?" Drake whispered, his eyes flickering around. "Just shut up. Let's hurry up and find your room." She replied quietly, returning to the screen. Everyone slowly returned to their business, but now they would whisper quietly before looking at Drake and Jade. Jade's fist clenched.

"I think I found the reason. Look right here; your room is R1, that's Masamune's room. Did he say anything about this to you?" Jade asked. Drake looked at what she was talking about. Sure enough, his room was R1. "Maybe we might find something in his information?" Drake asked. "Hmph. Maybe we can with your clearance." Jade said before tapping a few things on the screen. Masamune's picture popped up with a short group of data underneath.

"I see, so even Single Star clearance isn't enough to get the full truth." Jade commented. "It says he's retired." Drake said, before his jaw dropped at the next thing he saw. "It says he's somewhere around two- hundred years old." Drake said. "What? Really? I though he was only around a hundred-fifty." Jade replied. Drake gave Jade a quizzical look. "I asked him one time and he said that he was somewhere over a hundred. I don't find that much about him surprising anymore." Jade said bluntly.

She tapped something in the corner of the screen and the screen returned to a scene with a beach. "C'mon I need to get you to your room, and maybe then I can finally get something to eat." Jade said tugging Drake's sleeve as she walked away. Drake took one last look at his card before slipping it in his pocket and followed her. "Right now we're facing north; we entered through the west side." Jade said once Drake caught up.

"The entrance is all the way to the east side, with a road leading to the Apartments. Right now we're headed to the north side, there's a staircase there that will take us to the third floor, as well as your new home." Jade continued. The two of them walked to the northern side of the building. They didn't pass by many people, and of the few they did, they just gave Drake and Jade a short glance before returning to their business.

They walked along a railing that overlooked the hallway they crossed. Drake could see some people on the other side leaning against a railing that circled around something. "What's that over there?" Drake asked. Jade glanced over. "That is the top of the pool and gym; it lets people to get a better view." Jade replied. They walked quietly for a while, until Drake could see the door to the outside and a large doorway of the wall to the right of it.

"That would be the Cafeteria; they serve breakfast and lunch to anyone who can pay. Once you get some credits on your card, I'll show you how you can." Jade said as they passed it. She opened the door to the staircase and Drake followed her up the grey stairs. When they reached the top, Jade took his card. Drake looked out over the steel railing at some very peculiar geography. "Why is the earth so strange over there?" Drake asked.

Jade glanced back. "That's where most people go to train. They have various terrains so it can look a little odd from far away." Jade replied before opening the door. They walked into a long hallway with red carpet. Small skylights let in some natural lighting, while florescent lights were placed between them to light it at night. About twenty five down the hall, two doors sat on either side. Another fifty feet later was another set of doors. "Odds on the right and evens on the left." Jade said, pointing at the door to room nine and ten respectively.

"A total of twelve rooms are on this floor. The first four we past are reserved for Rank five members. They have to share their rooms with up three people, the Rank six members only have to share with two, and Rank seven members get their own rooms. You are a special case, since Masamune probably pulled a couple strings, you got his old room. You can invite people to live with you, but most people generally want a place to themselves." Jade explained as they walked into a space where another hallway intersected with the first.

There were a couple couches and chairs encircling a table. A few lamps on end tables were between a few of them. One even had a mini-fridge. A few people were relaxing and chatting. They nodded at Drake and Jade and returned to their conversations. "There's another place like this after the level six rooms. They're just a quiet place to hang out and meet people. On the east side of this floor is a door leading out onto a balcony. There's a bridge that stretches over the second floor and to the other side of the building where the guy in charge lives." Jade continued as they walked past the Rank six rooms.

They walked in silence though the second relaxing area and past rooms three and four. The rooms on this side were considerably larger. The wall past room one and two was a large glass window. They stopped at the door to room one. "This is your room, it's fully furnished and there should still be some food in the fridge. I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight." Jade said, handing Drake his card and starting to walk away. "Wait!" Drake called out. Jade looked back. "If you want, I can cook you some dinner for having to deal with me." Drake said.

Jade sighed. "No Drake, I don't want to." Jade replied. "But-" Drake started. "No, I don't want to. Just drop it. I just don't think I can be friends with you. You're too kind and naïve. You act like you have no problems in the world, like you can do whatever you want and don't really have to worry about much. I just don't have the time or patience to deal with you. I'll finish up tomorrow and ask for a replacement.


End file.
